After decades electrifying Australia’s small and independent theatres, playwright Patricia Cornelius and frequent collaborator director Susie Dee are being embraced by the majors.

Melbourne Theatre Company commissioned Cornelius to adapt her 2003 novel, My Sister Jill (which nods toward George Johnson’s Australian literary classic My Brother Jack). A strong cast has been gathered for this world premiere directed by Dee, including talented young screen star Angourie Rice and theatre veteran Maude Davey. So the ingredients for success are there, but surprisingly this drama never really ignites.

Angourie Rice, Benjamin Nichol, Zachary Pidd, James O’Connell and Lucy Goleby in My Sister Jill. Photo © Sarah Walker

My Sister Jill is set in the years following World War II, whose horrors haunt former POW Jack. Often drunk and angry, and unable to hold down a job, this traumatised man is a destructive force at the centre of his suburban Australian family.

Jack’s wife Martha tries to placate him while enduring verbal abuse. For the most part their five children fear him, though the youngest, Christine, initially idolises her dad and eldest daughter Jill is defiant. Over time the father-child relationships change, especially when the...